Question

Here is the code that i have

class A
{
public:
    void Func1() const;
};

class B
{
public:
    A* a;
    void Func2() const
    {
        // do something with 'a'
    }
};

void A::Func1() const
{
    B b;
    b.a = this;
    b.Func2();
}

Now obviously this is giving me an error in the line, because I’m trying to convert from const to non-const.

b.a = this;

Is there any way to call Func2 without having to cast away the constness of this. Since Func2 is a const function anyways, it will not change this.

Answer 1

If class B is always going to work with *a as a const object then as others have said all it takes is to simply change the declaration to

public: const A* a

At this point I should mention that the constness of B::Func2 is a red herring because it has absolutely no relation to the constness of B::a. That B::Func2 is const means that it’s not allowed to change the value of a; however, it is allowed to dereference a and mutate the resulting object.

Now, if class B has both const and non-const operations with respect to *a then your class design needs to change. It would be much better if you switched class B to use a const A* a as above, and added another class D : public B that encapsulates all the mutating operations. In addition, a should be hidden behind a property setter; this allows you to do things like

class B {
    const A* a;
public:
    void setA(const A* a) { this->a = a; }
    void Func2() const {}
};

class D : public B {
    A* a;
public:
    using B::setA;
    void setA(A* a) { 
        this->a = a;
        static_cast<B*>(this)->setA(const_cast<const A*>(a));
    }
    void Func3() { /* do something to D::a */ }
};

With this scheme both B and D keep independent, suitably typed pointers to the object to be accessed. If setA is called on a B, or on a D with a const A* parameter then only B::a is set. If setA is called on a D with an A*, then both B::a and D::a are properly set. This has become possible because by abstracting the member behind a setter you can then overload the setter on the constness of its parameter.